Duke Ends Regular Season vs. DenverFourth-ranked Duke closes out its 2012 regular season against No. 16 Denver at the Whitman's Sampler Mile High Classic at Sports Authority Field at Mile High Stadium ... This will be the second NFL stadium Duke has played in this season ... The Blue Devils are riding a 10-game win streak dating back to March 12 ... Denver is 7-5 overall and is coming off of a heartbreaking overtime loss to Fairfield this past weekend.

Duke Stretches Win Streak to 10 GamesThe Blue Devils have put together a double-digit win streak for the fourth time in program history and the third time under head coach John Danowski ... The stretch of 12 games in 2007 is the longest, while the 2005 squad opened the year with an 11-game win streak ... In 2008, the Blue Devils won 10 straight before falling in the national semifinals.

2012 Season Notes

Duke is riding a 10-game win streak and has six wins over ranked opponents in that span

Duke is 13-3 overall and captured its ninth ACC regular season title and seventh ACC Tournament championship ... All three losses came on the road against teams ranked in the top 10

Duke finished the regular season home schedule unblemished at 8-0, the 11th time in program history it went unbeaten at home

Duke is 2-3 in true road contests and 3-0 in neutral site games

Jordan Wolf is the team's top points scorer with 55 points (28g, 27a) ... Josh Dionne is the top goal scorer with 31 ... Christian Walsh, on the strength of four goals and two assists in the ACC title game, has 40 points, while Robert Rotanz has a career-high 36 points

CJ Costabile is atop the league in overall ground balls (104)

Duke has three of the top four goal scorers in the ACC with Josh Dionne, Robert Rotanz and Jordan Wolf ranking No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4, respectively.

Duke has held 10 of its 16 opponents to fewer than 10 goals this season

Dan Wigrizer, Kyle Turri and Mike Rock all have started at least twice this season between the pipes ... Duke is allowing 8.69 goals per game overall as a team

A Win over Denver Would

Push Duke's win streak to 11 games

Leave Duke unbeaten in the month of April for the eighth time in program history and fourth time since 2007

Give Duke 14 victories for the sixth straight year and just the eighth time in Duke lacrosse history

Make Duke 167-170 all-time and 28-4 since 2007 in the month of April

Be Duke's eighth win over a ranked opponent

Give head coach John Danowski his 313th career victory and 94th at Duke

Be the program's 482nd victory

Be Duke's 117th win since 2005

Duke - Denver Series HistoryDuke and Denver are meeting for the fifth time overall and for the second consecutive season ... The Blue Devils are 3-1 all-time against the Pioneers with the lone loss coming in 2011 at the Battle at Bethpage ... Duke won at Denver in 2003, an 11-8 victory in the Pioneer Classic.

Scouting DenverDenver enters its final regular season game of the year with a 7-5 overall record and coming off of an overtime 9-8 loss to Fairfield ... The Pioneers have lost in overtime three times, including a triple overtime setback to Notre Dame, and has four one-goal losses overall ... Mark Matthews headlines the attack with 32 goals and 14 assists for 46 points, while Alex Demopoulos has a team-best 21 assists and 35 points overall ... Chase Carraro has been outstanding at the faceoff X, winning 160-of-254 (.630) and 79 ground balls ... Matt Kramer has a team-best nine takeaways ... In goal, Jamie Faus and Ryan LaPlante have shared time between the pipes ... LaPlante has played the majority of time recently and owns an 8.71 goals against average and a .548 save percentage in nearly 360 minutes of action ... Denver is 5-1 in its home state this season.

Last Time Out Sophomore attackman Christian Walsh netted a career-high four goals and six points overall to help Duke mount a second-half comeback in the ACC Championship game against North Carolina ... The Blue Devils rebounded from a 4-2 halftime deficit to earn a 12-9 win over the Tar Heels for their seventh ACC title ... Walsh was named the ACC Tournament MVP for his performance ... Duke held North Carolina without a goal for 17:19 and to just one goal in the third quarter to pick up its 10th straight victory of the season.

Last Time These Two Teams MetAfter battling to a 5-5 tie in the first half, Denver outscored Duke 7-4 in the second half for a 12-9 victory in the Battle at Bethpage ... Robert Rotanz led Duke with four goals, while Todd Baxter had four goals and an assist for the Pioneers ... Denver won the ground ball battle 28-26, while Jamie Faus made 16 saves in the victory for Denver ... Dan Wigrizer had 11 stops for Duke.

Staying Out of the Penalty BoxDuke has dramatically cut down the amount of time it spends in the penalty box recently ... In the first four games of the year, Duke was whistled for 25 penalties for 24:30 ... In the past four games Duke has served eight minutes in the box for 11 penalties ... Duke allowed 23 man-up chances in the first four games and just 10 in the past four ... In this 10-game win streak, Duke is averaging just over three minutes in penalties and 3.7 man-up chances and per game, compared to five minutes of penalties and 4.7 man-up opportunities per game in the 3-3 start to the season.

Improving Shot PercentageDuke has scored 120 goals on 370 shots during the 10-game win streak for a .324 shot percentage ... In the six games prior to that the Blue Devils notched just 62 goals from 242 shots for a .256 percentage ... Duke shot a season-low .081 percentage (3-of-37) in the loss to Notre Dame.

Duke's Improving DefenseOne of the biggest improvements during the 10-game win streak has been on the defensive end for the Blue Devils ... In the previous five games - during which four teams were ranked among the top 15 - Duke is holding teams to just 7.80 goals per game and a .241 shooting percentage ... In the five games previous to that Duke was allowing 9.40 goals per game and a .272 shot percentage.

Games During March 12-March 27

Record

GAA

Opp. Shot%

Shots/gm

5-0

9.4

0.272

34.6

Games During April 1 - April 22

Record

GAA

Opp. Shot%

Shots/gm

5-0

7.8

0.241

32.4

Man Down DefenseAfter the first 10 games of the season, Duke's man-down defense ranked last in the NCAA ... The Blue Devils were allowing 2.5 man-up goals per game and teams were successful over 50 percent of the time ... In the past six games, Duke has allowed just five man-up scores and sports a .722 success rate in man-down situations.

Scoring in the 2nd and 3rd QuartersDuke has outscored its opponents 106-64 in the second and third quarters combined ... The Blue Devils have been outscored five times in the second quarter and three times in the third overall this season ... During the 10 game win streak, Duke has been outscored in those quarters just three times.

Duke in the Month of AprilDuke is 166-170 all-time in the month of April ... Under head coach John Danowski, the Blue Devils are 27-4 in the fourth month of the year ... From 2007 until April 23, 2010 Duke did not lose a game in the month of April ... Duke's last loss in April was on April 24, 2011 against Maryland in the ACC title game.

Reaching the Perfect 10Since 2007, Duke is 82-4 when scoring at least 10 goals in a game ... The Blue Devils are 10-18 when being held to fewer than 10 scores ... Duke is 22-16 when allowing 10 goals in a contest and is 70-6 when holding opponents under 10 goals.

Against Ranked OpponentsSince 2006, Duke has amassed a 68-25 (.731) record versus ranked opponents ... This season Duke is 7-3 against ranked opponents with all three losses coming to top-10 opponents ... The Blue Devils have scored in double digits in six of the 10 games and held teams to fewer than 10 goals five times.

One Goal GamesDuke improved to 69-61 all-time in games decided by one goal when it held off Maryland 6-5 in the ACC Semifinal ... Duke played a program-high seven one-goal games in both 1994 and 1997 ... Duke is 11-5 in one-goal games under John Danowski and 3-0 in 2012.

Duke In Overtime ContestsDuke has played 35 overtime games in its history ... The Blue Devils are 17-17-1 ... Under head coach John Danowski, Duke is 4-1 in contests that go into overtime.

Danowski Wins No. 300With a 16-8 victory over Rutgers in the 2012 season opener, head coach John Danowski became the sixth Division I men's lacrosse coach to reach the 300-win benchmark ... Danowski captured his 81st win in his 100th game at Duke ... He currently ranks tied for third among active coaches in wins.

Wins

Coach, School

W

L

1

Dave Urick, Georgetown

344

129

2

Dom Starsia, Virginia

338

121

3

John Danowski, Duke

312

161

4

Bill Tierney, Denver

306

106

5

Bob Shillinglaw, Delaware

305

272

6

Mike Pressler, Bryant

295

132

7

Kevin Corrigan, Notre Dame

237

122

8

Scott Nelson, Binghamton

234

119

9

Don Zimmerman, UMBC

212

136

10

John Desko, Syracuse

169

51

Playing in the Biggest VenuesThe Blue Devils will play in their sixth professional venue in program history this weekend when they travel to Denver to play the Pioneers at Sports Authority Field at Mile High ... Since 2005 the Blue Devils have played at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., EverBank Field in Jacksonville and the New Meadowlands in East Rutherford, N.J.

Costabile Picking Up GroundersSenior longstick midfielder CJ Costabile ranks among the nation's top ground ball guys ... Costabile faces off regularly for the Blue Devils and is a key member of the defense ... He currently ranks second among active Division I players in career ground balls with 336 ... His three GBs against Maryland pushed him past Duke goaltender Joe Kirmser's 327 pickups, the most in Duke lacrosse history.

Wolf and Rotanz Are Duke's Top Scoring DuoSophomore attackmen Jordan Wolf and Christian Walsh have combined for 95 points for the year to rank tied for sixth among top scoring tandems ... Siena's Bryan Neufeld and Danny Martinson are the top tandem with 118 points ... Virginia's Steele Stanwick and Chris Bocklet are the top duo in the ACC with 102 points.

Scoring TrioDuke's top three scorers - Christian Walsh, Josh Dionne and Robert Rotanz - have combined for 88 of Duke's 182 goals for 48 percent of the team's total for the season ... Walsh, Dionne and Rotanz are the top goal scoring trio in the ACC and the third highest among all Division I teams.

Long Pole ScoringDuke has gotten 10 goals and six assists from the long poles this season ... Costabile has five goals and three assists ... Chris Hipps registered his first career goal at Loyola and Brian Dailey had his first career score Marist ... Michael Manley has two goals and an assist, while Luke Duprey has one goal and two assists.

CJ Nation's Top Long Pole ScorerSenior long stick midfielder CJ Costabile is a threat on offense and defense ... The 2012 ACC Co-Defensive Player of the Year has five goals and three assists this year and currently leads all active long poles in career scoring with 20 goals and 19 assists for 39 points.

Wigrizer Hitting His StrideAfter missing three games to injury and losing the starting job in three other contests, junior goaltender Dan Wigrizer is playing his best lacrosse of the season ... He has started the past eight games and is sporting an 8.19 goals against average and a .548 save percentage in that stretch ... He has double-digit saves in four of the eight games.

CJ Costabile Named to Tewaaraton Trophy NomineeSenior longstick midfielder CJ Costabile was named one of 25 nominees for the 2012 Tewaaraton Award ... The award is presented to the nation's best men's and women's college lacrosse players ... Duke has two Tewaaraton Award winners since 2007.